| Relationship between storm and antecedent precipitation over Kansas, Oklahoma, and Eastern Colorado - :13466 | National Weather Service (NWS)

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Antecedent and subsequent rainfall amounts were examined for storms with a daily precipitation amount equal to or greater than the 10-year 24-hour amount for Kansas, Oklahoma, and eastern Colorado. This investigation centered on the statistical relationships between an intense central precipitation event and its antecedent and subsequent precipitation within a small area ( 10 square miles or less) . Daily precipitation sequences of 31 days centered on the maximum daily precipitation amount were used as the data base. Some of the results from this study are: seasonally, storms with central rainfall amounts of 14.5 inches or more are most likely to occur in September or October in the central Plains; the larger central precipitation amounts tend to be associated with much shorter than average durations of the immediate antecedent dry period; as the central storm amount increases, the amount of precipitation contributed by the surrounding wet days increases; the distribution of total antecedent and subsequent precipitation is not symmetrical; and the ratio of the total antecedent and subsequent precipitation as a percent of the central storm decreases as the central precipitation increases. Statistically, the analysis of the daily rainfall indicates that for a 3- to a 5-day probable maximum precipitation event a reasonable antecedent precipitation amount would be 10 to 20 percent of the probable maximum precipitation amounts within a 31-day period centered on the day of maximum precipitation in the central Plains.

Ice formation in orographic mixed-phase clouds can enhance precipitation and depends on the type of aerosols that serve as ice nucleating particles (INPs). The resulting precipitation from these clouds is a viable source of water, especially for regi...